HAMPSHIRE County Council leader Ken Thornber has complained that the Liberal Democrat candidate in Thursday's Basingstoke north west by-election is "maligning" the Conservative-controlled county council in his campaign literature.

The accusation about Cllr John Shaw's claims over alleged county council cutbacks comes days after Basingstoke Tory borough councillors announced they were reporting Cllr Shaw, and fellow Lib-Dems, council leader Brian Gurden and Cabinet member Ron Hussey, to the Standards Board over an election leaflet in which Cllr Shaw claimed the credit for a £35,000 grant to users at Basingstoke's Planet Ice following proposals for price increases.

Cllr Thornber told The Gazette: "I am not prepared to allow Cllr John Shaw, in his election literature, to malign this Conservative administration at the county council.

"It is simply untrue to state that there will be cuts in the budget for the year 2003/04 and I take the greatest exception to such deliberate manipulation of the truth."

Cllr Thornber said there was an agreement with the Liberal Democrats in Hampshire that they would join the Tories in putting the blame for the 15 per cent increase in council tax where it belonged - on the Government.

"Electioneering is one thing," added Cllr Thornber.

"Deliberate misinformation is another."

In reply, Cllr Shaw said: "In our leaflets we have simply compared the county council tax rise with the borough council rise of only two-and-a-half per cent.

"It is true that part of the rise is due to lack of Government grants but there have been substantial council tax rises in Hampshire year after year over a period of time, and county councillors have to take their responsibility for that."

The initial leaflet row prompted Labour members to walk out of last Tuesday's borough Cabinet meeting. When they returned, they voted out the £35,000 grant - because they said it looked as if they were being used to fight the Lib-Dem election campaign. The Labour councillors promised, however, to re-instate the grant to the ice-users at the next full council meeting on February 20.

The by-election is taking place following the death of Rita Collins, who had held the seat for Labour.